


Staying Home

by belivaird_st



Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: F/F, Older Woman/Younger Woman, Strong Female Characters, quarantine blues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:07:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23796631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belivaird_st/pseuds/belivaird_st
Summary: Carol & Therese are trying to get used to the quarantine life.
Relationships: Carol Aird/Therese Belivet
Comments: 2
Kudos: 84





	1. Chapter 1

“I can’t breathe with this on.”

Therese’s voice was muffled inside the cloth face mask she wore over her nose and mouth, watching Carol pick up her own from the cut out sheets of fabric she had scissored and tried wearing hers now. Tugging the corners of the mask with hair elastics worn around her ears, she adjusted the material with Therese looking at her, mouth and nose covered.

“Well, you look funny,” Carol tells her, voice muffled as well. 

Therese playfully slaps her bare arm.

“So do you.”

They lean forward pressing their mask-worn mouths together, giggling how strange kissing would now turn out.

“You guys do realize that you only have to wear those masks outside the public—not inside the house, right?” spoke their teenage daughter, Rindy, who was laying on the recliner in her red flannel Harley Quinn pajamas, peering up at her two mothers from the bright glowing screen on her phone.

“We know that,” Carol answered.

“Obviously,” Therese agreed. 

Rindy just looked at them and snorted like they were a bunch of freaks before gazing back down at her phone.


	2. Chapter 2

“Just leave the bags right on the floor mat.”

Carol looked at Harge’s mother, who peered back at her through the door’s tiny crack. She was barely recognizable without makeup and her hair unpinned; cascading around her shoulders like an aging, woodland witch. Jennifer Aird waved a hand in her nightgown and slippers.

“Don’t stand there and gawk at me, Carol! The bags! Right there!”

“Why are you so afraid for?” Carol asked her, voice muffled behind the homemade mask. She gently set the bag of groceries down on the welcome mat below her feet, staring at the woman, perplexed.

“It’s not safe anymore! The air has been infected by the virus! John and I could be at high risk!”

“If you need a face mask, I’ve got plenty of more that I made last night,” Carol’s cloth piece wiggled as her mouth moved. She thumbed over her shoulder at the stalling car in the circle dirt driveway.

“You’re not wearing any gloves,” Jennifer pointed out. “Did you at least use hand sanitizer?” 

_“Yes.”_

“I want to see the bottle.”

“This will be the last time I grocery shop for you,” Carol said, exasperated. “Therese can do it from now on... I’m heading home... The girls send you their love...”

She gave a flailing wave goodbye before turning around, heading straight back to the car with both her hands readjusting the floral cream cloth mask.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the world going a bit hectic, my thoughts were to extend this a bit further and see how Carol would react to learn that both Therese and Rindy want to join the protesting and riots that’s going outside the city.

Carol watched Rindy shoving a flashlight inside the mesh cup holder pocket of her North Face backpack in the hallway by the front door. She was dressed in a hoodie, shorts, face mask, and latex gloves.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Outside to join the minorities. Maybe spray paint the side wall of a church...”

“That’s not funny, Rindy. And no, you’re not going anywhere tonight, because I don’t want to see you being broadcast on the Chanel 7 news while a police car's being engulfed in flames behind you!”

“Therese says I can go. She’s coming with me.”

Carol blinked several times, then gazed around as her young female partner walked behind her, planting a swift kiss on the cheek.

“Don’t worry,” she said, her fingers pulling her cloth mask halfway over her face. “We won’t be gone for too long!”

“Just remember we’re in the middle of making history!” Rindy slipped both her arms through the straps of her backpack before unlocking the door and stepping out. Therese gave Carol a final squeezable hug before heading right after the teenager. The door swung and clicked shut, leaving a terrified, yet furious Carol behind all alone, by herself.


	4. Chapter 4

Carol heard voices coming from the hallway. Grabbing the remote, she pressed a button and had put the TV on mute. Glancing up from the couch, she saw Therese back from protesting. She pulled off her face mask with Rindy coming up behind her; wrestling out of her backpack, looking exhilarated and sweaty from their historical event.

“We're back,” Therese said.

“I can see that,” Carol replied. “How’d it go?”

“There was a lot of yelling, fist-fighting, police officers hand-cuffing people beside their cruisers,” Rindy explained, breathlessly. She pulled a Dasani water bottle out of her bag to crunch the plastic loudly in one hand. The bottle was empty.

“It wasn’t peaceful at all. Not really,” Therese added, kicking off her sneakers. “People are fed up. There’s no ending to it.”

Rindy took her phone out and showed her mother some of the footage she recorded. Carol saw large crowds of people holding signs, wearing face masks, and filming through their own cellular devices. Police were in full uniform with face shields and helmets. Most of them were holding up loaded guns and cans of mace.

“Jesus,” Carol muttered under her breath. Rindy closed out her phone and said she was going to take a shower. Therese made her way towards her partner to sit down and hook her arm through hers.


	5. Chapter 5

Rindy picked up one of the end puzzle pieces that were scattered everywhere on the dining room table and tried fitting it between two, navy blue cutout ones. She could overhear both Carol and Therese arguing from the next room.

“...I’m not letting anybody control my life!” Therese shouted. “Not you, not the mayor, not the government!”

“...This isn’t about that!” Carol yelled. “It’s about being safe and staying healthy!”

Glancing up from her 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle of great white sharks living under the sea, Rindy watched her mother follow Therese down the hallway in a scoop neck T-shirt with jeans and ankle socks. Carol's hair was pulled back in a short ponytail and was wearing her plastic glasses. 

“I wear a mask all the time, Carol! I stay six feet apart from people! Going out for lunch isn’t the end of the world!”

“Just because certain places are reopening, doesn’t mean you should go right back and eat there! There’s no vaccine yet! People are still dying from this!”

Therese stormed into the dining room, wearing a strapless summer dress with gladiator sandals. Rindy was picking up another piece of her puzzle, staring at it. 

“What are you guys fighting about?” she asked softly.

“Your mother wants me to live like a hermit for the rest of my life,” Therese scoffs. “I feel like going for a quick bite to eat and get out of the house for awhile.”

Carol walked over and stood beside her, raising her voice,

“There’s no point of eating out! We’ve got plenty of food right here! Stop being foolish!”

“Stop being a mini version of Mrs. Aird! You’re sounding just like her,” Therese accused.

“Both of you, shut up,” Rindy groaned. “I’m trying to concentrate here!” She waved a hand along her unfinished puzzle.


	6. Chapter 6

“Take deep breaths...”

Carol’s voice sounded comforting as she began to inhale, then exhale, like a TV fitness trainer. She watched Therese mimic her in the hallway with all the frustration she felt suddenly vanished within seconds. The anger was no longer there. Therese could no longer remember what she was upset about.

“All better?” 

“Maybe it’s still too early.” 

It was like her partner had been hypnotized and Carol grinned, stepping forward to pull Therede into her arms.

“You guys make me want to have the coronavirus right now,” Rindy scoffed above her puzzle.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear you say that,” Carol murmured, patting Therese on the back as they pulled away, holding each other by the waist.


End file.
